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Charter wants out of Los Angeles, but Time Warner Cable apparently not obliging

Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), the cable company of the nation's heartland, wants out of its Los Angeles market and is lining up its ducks to make it happen, according to Multichannel News.

Charter has reportedly wanted out of the L.A. properties for years. The way cable usually does things would have been a swap and, according to MCN Charter tried to work this angle with Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC); offering the number two MSO 551,000 West Coast subscribers in exchange for about 560,000 TWC subs in Wisconsin where Charter has a serious presence. Reportedly, Time Warner Cable balked and Charter will put the properties--and subscribers--on the auction block.

The lack of movement on Time Warner Cable's part is interesting. The service provider has been active on the programming side of the Los Angeles market recently, locking up a deal with the Lakers basketball team and duking it out with Fox Networks over the Dodgers baseball team. More subs might have given it more muscle in both negotiations.